Air France said the plane had returned from New York with broken reverse thrusters on its number 2 engine. Although this fell within the manufacturer's technical tolerances, the pilot insisted on repairs. Thrusters were found from a spare Concorde.
A late connecting flight further delayed takeoff, the brief Air France communiqué said. It concluded, "Only after the spare part was replaced and the luggage loaded did the captain make the decision to depart."
Marty radioed the tower that his number two engine had failed. This is particularly critical in the Concorde, veteran pilots say, because the swept wing aircraft has two engines close together under each wing. One is vulnerable to damage from the other.
The veteran Concorde captain added that he was trying to reach Le Bourget, smaller and more accessible than Charles de Gaulle.
"It is during this looping maneuver that the aircraft crashed on the hotel," Elisabeth Senot told reporters. She is the local prosecutor in charge of the judicial investigation.
Marty, known for skill and prudence as a pilot, was also a popular sportsman. He set a world windsurf record in 1982, crossing the Atlantic from Dakar, Senegal, to French Guiana in 37 days.
As crash details trickled in slowly, France remained in shock at the loss of life in their beloved Concorde.
President Jacques Chirac, somber in a dark suit, visited a community hall near the crash site. His wife, Bernadette, seemed devastated with grief.
Forensic experts sought to identify the dead, 96 of them Germans headed to New York for a luxury cruise to the Caribbean and, for some, on to the Sydney Olympics. Two Danes, an Austrian and an American were also passengers. Nine crew members died, along with four people in the hotel, including two Polish hotel trainees.
As family members arrived in Paris, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in Germany theater his nation was in shock. Pope John Paul II sent condolences.
German Transport Minister Reinhard Klimmt, with about 50 psychologists, consoled the family members, who were kept far from reporters and cameras.
Jean-Claude Gayssot, the French transport minister, grounded all Air France Concordes indefinitely as investigators picked carefully through ashes and rubble for more clues. Two recovered flight recorders were being examined.
"I cannot exclude the possibility of asking for a new certification of the Concorde engines," Gayssot said, but he added that future of France's supersonic flagship was "not in question."
Nonetheless, requiems have already begun for the money-losing aircraft which never caught on outside of France and England. In recent days, engineers in both countries found cracks in the wings in some of the 13 Concordes in service.
"The Concorde without a doubt died yesterday," Le Figaro, a leading Paris daily, wrote. "It had just turned 31. For France, it's a day of mourning. The myth of a beautiful white bird will remain."
This was the first Concorde crash after three decades. The Rolls Royce engines, built for the Concorde in Bristol, England, have totaled a million hours of flying time.
British Airways briefly grounded its Concorde fleet but resumed London-New York flights Wednesday after safety checks.
In Gonesse, residents praised Marty as a hero who saved uncounted lives in their town of 23,000 near Charles de Gaulle airport, nine miles from Paris.
"We avoided catastrophe thanks to the pilot's presence of mind," Mayor Pierre Blazy said, explaining that the plane turned just before it reached the hospital and the town beyond.
Father Claude Porcheron, a local priest, also said he believed the pilot made a last-gasp attempt to save lives. "It was the most beautiful act in the world," he said, tears welling in his eyes.
Near the demolished Hotelissimo, prayers of thanks were fervent. A group of 45 Polish tourists had left for a day of sightseeing. They returned to find smoldering ashes in a wheat field where their rooms had been.
Almost as many teenagers from southeastern England never made it to the hotel. Their bus got stuck in traffic.
Alice Brookings, a 21-year-old Cambridge student, made it on time from England was on the phone to sister when the plane fell. She opened the door to a wall of flame and then leaped back across her bed, out the window.
"The heat was amazing," she said. "It was an oven."
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